With the trip winding down, we simply had to get one dawn patrol ride checked off the list. We ascended in pitch-black darkness with headlamps to the top of a 3000 foot ridge and waited for the golden light to appear. The sunrise was worth the suffering. On our last day, we rode with locals on their home shuttle trails and it turned out to be the most fun day of the whole trip. Their warm spirit and big passion for mountain biking rubbed off on us and it was the perfect end to an unforgettable trip.

EPISODE FOUR

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Right outside of the town of Bariloche is some of the sweetest ribbons of singletrack any of us had ever experienced. Not only that, but directly in town is a top quality shuttle zone that had us saying "one more run" over and over.

EPISODE THREE

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When we were above Catedral, we could see a snowcapped Volcano in the distance. We were told that soon we'd be riding almost all the way up the it in coming days. A three hour climb through rainforest, past huge waterfalls and incredible vistas put us into a glacial moonscape. We climbed and hiked in dense fog over volcanic rock up to over 7000 feet. Out of nowhere a refugio appeared, a welcome sight for a bunch of cold and tired guys. After a late night and lot of red wine, we were greeted by a bluebird morning and the realization we were on the edge of a massive glacier and in the middle of a mountain bike playground.

EPISODE TWO

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Our first day of riding had us giddy - we knew we'd stumbled upon something big. It was so gratifying to come so far and be rewarded with such great riding and awe-inspiring terrain. The riding above the Catedral bike park had us feeling like we were riding on Mars with jagged red rock spires in the distance. The next day we climbed for two hours up to a refugio, which is a mountaineer's hut staffed year-round. With epic views of the lake and the Andes, we descended into what seemed like a natural bobsled track full of little drops and rock gardens. Another all-time day and further confirmation we hit the motherlode.

EPISODE ONE

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***WARNING, NO RIDING IN EPISODE 1***When we travel together with our bikes and gear, we use the term "Shock and Awe" for the airport check-in experience. Seven guys with seven overweight bikes and gear bags is a sight to behold and Air Canada's check-in staff have come to know us well. Our trip down to Buenos Aires was smooth and we had a fun (too fun) night there before heading to Bariloche the next day. There, we met our amazing guides and we had enough time to get a quick rip in to work the cobwebs out from two days of travel.

OVERVIEWSitting on the edge of the Andes, Bariloche is famous for its Catedral ski resort, the biggest in South America, and for its notoriously rugged backcountry terrain. After bouncing around various ideas of where we should take this year's Rocky Mountain adventure, we dug deeper and discovered that Bariloche has a burgeoning mountain bike scene with killer trails and passionate locals. That, and Argentina's warm sunshine in February sealed the deal.

The trip wasn't about finding big hucks, shredding scree slopes, heli-shuttles, or filming for a feature movie. It was about finding a true mountain bike adventure and sharing it with close friends.

So, we pulled together the team of Thomas Vanderham, Geoff Gulevich, Wade Simmons, and Andreas "Dre" Hestler, as well our very talented friends Margus Riga and Ambrose Weingart to capture the trip's visuals, and headed to the Southern Hemisphere. With the help of our amazing guides, Martin "Cepi" Raffo, Bojan Magister, and Gonzallo Serenelli, we found the adventure we had hoped for and much more. From the friendly and welcoming locals, to the jaw dropping natural beauty surrounding Bariloche and its world-class trails, we'll remember this trip for the rest of our lives.

95 Comments

I live in Bariloche, Argentina. I had the pleasure of seeing them ride, they are great riders and they seem really nice people too. Argentina is waiting for all of you to come and visit!!!www.pinkbike.com/video/283330

I was in Bariloche in 2007, such a beautiful place. I ended up hiking on some random trail (as I did not have a bike) to the top of a hill that look over a stunning little lake. I want to go back so bad.

Too bad at the moment in Argentina the government don´t allow the Argentinians or anybody else to import bikes and other components. Poor chaps down there don´t have enough cash as it is to buy good bikes, only the few rich ones can afford one and now with the Government´s restrictions on imports, forget it. Many Argentinian friends of mine have told me they are thinking of giving up the sport as a consequence of that.

We got such a beautiful country, every province has its charms, in south as in north, i live in Salta, last year they shooted the latest mtb movie here. We would love to receive more mountainbiking/outdoor sports tourism, for you, the money exchange is almost 6us$ / 1$ar so you can have cheap fun, for us, as @trickytracker said, buying a nice dh bike is 30.000$ar or impossible, there are almost no imports here, just unfair, cause i dont want to give up the most beautiful sport ever for that reason. A bike parts smuggling ring would be all i need

Coming from the wet rain forests of Vancouver island it puts me at awe to see the beautiful landscapes of your home land. I would love to make it go Argentina on day, good edit as well, shows a good local prescriptive.

@madhabits We could do it but the government has implemented high taxes and banned most imports, here one can not buy dollars so traveling abroad is increasingly difficult. get a proper bike in argentina is 7 to 8 times more expensive than in Europe or USA and practically not available. Could you buy a downhill bike in the UK if this cost 20-30000 pounds? The situation here is quite difficult my friend

So what you are saying is some frame builders need to move to bariloche and start a company. Cruz del Sur: Southern Cross. Simple four bar design. Tried and true. Start with some deore or X-7 equipped bikes with Domain R's or some other cheap fork and sun rhyno lite wheels, and deore cranks. If it takes off we can advance the design.

Aint that the truth. My plan is to vacation where I can bike and bring my bike or rent one. This summer I drove halfway accross the country to visit my brother and brought my AM and XC bikes. Introduced my brother to mountainbiking and we had a blast. It was great to ride somewhere different with different terrain.

Trains are the cheapest way to get your bike to your vacation. If you are flying drop off the bike at the train station and ship it for 12-20 bucks without taking it apart. Pick it up at a station where you are going. Just gotta find a station within an hour of where you are visiting.

My self and a few extra friends we guide this guys riding on our back yard.. Incredible sensation to ride with them, great people, and great riding, you are all invited to do the same. Just let us know!!! cepi@gravitymtb.com.ar

Strange story, not shure what place did you go drinking, but in regular places to get a beer , locas are ok whith forgeing people, i'ts the usual to see lots of backpackers, staing at hostels, tons of them and no one has a problem with them, in fact locas become friends. Perhaps you went to a bad place, or you where disturbing people or offending, but unusual story. sory for my english

no worries your english is a lot better than any foreign language i can hope to speak ,im not for one minute saying that argentinians are zenophobic or hostile as i have met some lovely people from your country .i was simply trying to make younger people, from england in particular! aware that we are not liked by everyone in argentina especially when it comes to football fans ,no offence meant i dont even like football anymore but i did in the eighties.

I spent 6 weeks travelling Argentina and never experienced any bad feelings towards us, maybe it was a case of the wrong bar at the wrong time. This video makes me want to go back to Bariloche so badly.

Sorry but I have spent almost a year in Argentina. Working and go outdoor at weekends and, I really felt bad with that people. If you, Europeans, Americans and other felt it, imagine for a Brazilian, that Argentines insists in compare us to monkeys.

perhaps!! too much footbal fanatics, other great sports get under the shadow of footbal fanatism, not so popular among bikers anyway. eneasbernardo, if you say so never heard rasism against you people...

THE best chips ( "french fries") , second only to my Irish grandmas' , are in Ushuaia (the southernmost inhabited place on earth- tierra del fuego- antarctica is a puddle jump away) - at the Irish pub there. the secret is they put the raw potato in an ice bath for an hour (or more) before cutting it up into medium size strips, then lightly fried , then put in a brown paper bag with a pinch of salt and shaken until the bag has absorbed most of the oil , then served . Argentina is a F-ing paradise .

I spent a month in Bariloche this past January, and it is such an amazing place. I was only able to ride one day while I was there (at the catedral bike park), but it was great! Its amazing seeing this footage, and recognizing so much of it, having hiked and run those trails (especially up to the refiguio). I hope that some day I will get back there, and so some more riding.

I spent three months in argentina last year and bariloche was one of my favourite places that we visited. Unfortunately there was a too much snow to ride when we were there but its a phenomenal place to ride, hike and ski. One great thing that they dont mention in the video is that bariloche is the chocolate capital of south america! Its like willy wonkas down there! Its also less than £1 for a litre of beer or wine!

Wow... That was just so amazing to watch! I would love to travel internationally with my bike and experience new rides, people and culture. Now that I've recently became a teacher, I will have time to do things like that.

Don't think Rocky MAKES a 650B bike do they??? EDIT: N/M, yes they DO... so you could be right aye. I'd certainly be rocking the 650B's on a trip like this but not on a Rocky seeing as the only bike of worth to me is the Slayer and there's no 650B option. Rocky needs to take some cue's from norco on how to put together a COMLETE and amazing bike line. The Slayer would be a pretty awesome bike with a bit more standover and some 27.5" wheels IMO... otherise the rest of Rocky's lineup (the SS bike is cool) is typically "MEH". BUT, at least were not seeing any more of those god awful RM/RMX platform bikes... I'll put on my nomex suit now.

I agree the Slayer is a killer looking ride... I got to take one for a spin this year at one of the Oregon Enduro events and was pesently surprised (never been much of a Rocky fan), then I got on one of the 29r "BC-XC" bikes and wished I hadn't.... yeah I'm not much on the "buffed up XC bike" thing Rockys pushing these days and I think they've flat out got their head up their asses not using the Slayer chasis for the 650B option. Norco's Range Killer B is , IMO, a far better option (better suspension platform and more "abuse ready"). If the Big S would finnaly get off their laurels and make a 650B Enduro/Evo I'd be in heaven...

Wait, now I just reaized that this is a new for 2013 chasis??? I just accidentaly jumped onto their main page and tried to look for it and the Altitude frames totally different for 2013 aye wonder if that'll be across the board or if this is gonna be a "dedicated" 650B bike???. Now I'm waiting for some beefy forks to follow cause these Fox 34's/15MM don't cut it for me, and I remember when 32mm stancions were "big" hahahahaha.